Apparatus for cutting sheet material

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for making rigid box blanks from web strips of a desired length or from a continuous strip derived from a roll of board stock. The machine intermittently feeds the strip of material past a pair of scoring rolls that partially cut the web along lines equally inwardly spaced from its edges thereby providing two laterally spaced longitudinally extending score lines. While the strip is at rest transverse score lines extending between and intersecting the longitudinal score lines are produced. Concurrently therewith the web is substantially completely transversely severed along offset straight lines to produce removable rectangular portions which will constitute the corner pieces for the completed blank. Uncut tab portions are provided for holding the adjacent box blanks in strip form. Thereafter the tabs are ruptured to separate the strip into individual blanks.

United States Patent 1 Eggert et al.

[451 Oct. 29, 1974 1 APPARATUS FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL [75] Inventors: Ralph H. Eggert, Cinnaminson,

N.J.; Quentin T. Woods, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

[73] A'ssignee: FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif.

[22] Filed: July 25, 1973 [2]] Appl. No.: 382,433

Related-US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 149,302, June 2, 1971,

abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. 93/36 A, 93/58 R, 93/58.3 [51] Int. Cl B3lb 1/16 [58] Field of Search.... 93/36 A, 36 R, 58 R, 58 ST, 93/58.1, 58.2, 58.3, 58.4

Norton 93/36 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 445,179 6/1927 Germany Primary ExaminerRoy Lake Assistant Examiner-James F. Coan Attorney, Agent, or Firm-C. E. Tripp [5 7] ABSTRACT The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for making rigid box blanks from web strips of a desired length or from a continuous strip derived from a roll of board stock. The machine intermittently feeds the strip of material past a pair of scoring rolls that partially cut the web along lines equally inwardly spaced from its edges thereby providing two laterally spaced longitudinally extending score lines. While the strip is at rest transverse score lines extending between and intersecting the longitudinal score lines are produced. Concurrently therewith the web is substantially completely transversely severed along offset straight lines to produce removable rectangular portions which will constitute the comer pieces for the completed blank. Uncut tab portions are provided for holding the adjacent box blanks in strip form. Thereafter the tabs are ruptured to separate the strip into individual blanks.

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1. An apparatus for making box blanks from elongate strips of web material, comprising means for slitting a sheet of the material into a plurality of strips; means for transporting said strips into a registered pile; means for successively feeding each strip from said pile; means for partially cutting the strip along lines spaced equally inwardly from the edges of the strip to define longitudinal score lines; means for making a pair of longitudinally spaced transverse score lines extending from one longitudinal score line to the other, means for transversely severing the strip along a line equally spaced from said transverse score lines and for partially severing a portion from each edge of the strip bounded by the transverse and longitudinal score lines to thereby define the corner pieces, said partial severing providing rupturable uncut portions which retain the adjacent box blanks connected, and means for rupturing said uncut portions to separate the completed blanks from the strip.
 2. Apparatus for making box blanks comprising means rotatably supporting a mill roll of web material, cutting means engaged with said roll for progressively severing a strip of web material as wide as one dimension of a finished box blank from said roll in response to rotation thereof, means for advancing said web endwise, means for longitudinally scoring the web during said endwise movement, and repetitively operative means for simultaneously effecting the remaining scoring, severing and tear line perforating operations necessary to outline the remaining sections of the box blank, successive box blanks longitudinally of said web strip having a common tear line so that the web provides a continuous series of interconnected box blanks.
 3. An apparatus for making box blanks from an elongate strip of web material comprising mEans for feeding the strip; means for partially cutting through the strip along lines spaced equally inwardly from the edges of the strip to define longitudinal score lines; die means comprising scoring means for making longitudinally spaced, transverse score lines extending from one longitudinal score line to the other; said die means also including cutting means, effective substantially simultaneously with said transverse scoring means, for completely cutting the strip along an intermediate transverse line equidistant from the transverse score lines and extending from one longitudinal score line to the other, said die means further including cutting means for forming removable side corner portions by making cuts aligned with said transverse score lines and having a width defined by the edges of the strip and the longitudinal score lines and by making cuts coincident with said longitudinal score lines and having a length equal to the distance between said transverse score lines; said cutting means having means for leaving readily rupturable tabs between the corner portions and the strip to prevent separation of the strip at the cut lines, and means located adjacent said transverse scoring and cutting means for rupturing said tabs to simultaneously remove said side corner portions and separate the completed box blanks.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, comprising means for trimming off the side edges of said elongate web before forming said longitudinal score lines.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for making said longitudinal score lines comprises score wheels, means mounting said wheels on a support extending across an upper portion of the apparatus, said score wheel mounting means being laterally adjustable along said support to locate said score wheels at any desired point inwardly relative to the edges of the strip, rotatable anvil rolls associated with each score wheel, said anvil rolls being mounted on a shaft for location below said score wheels, and means for adjusting said shaft relative to said score wheels to locate the anvil rolls a desired distance from the periphery of said score wheels to thereby determine the depth of the longitudinal score lines.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said adjusting means comprises eccentric bushings supporting said anvil roll shaft.
 7. An apparatus for making box blanks from a strip of web material which has been provided with longitudinal score lines spaced from and parallel with the edges of the web strip, said apparatus comprising a die, engageable at predetermined longitudinally equally spaced portions of the strip, for transversely cutting the strip between the longitudinal score lines and transversely scoring the strip on opposite sides of the transverse cut, said die including means for simultaneously cutting the blank between the longitudinal score lines and the edges of the blank in alignment with the transverse score lines, said die also including means for cutting the blank along the longitudinal score lines between the transverse score lines to provide corner pieces for the leading and trailing box blanks, the cutting means of said die being formed to leave the corner pieces weakly attached to the strip, and means for simultaneously detaching the corner pieces from the strip downstream of said die.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein certain cutting edges of said die are interrupted to provide the weakly attached, easily rupturable corner pieces to thereby retain the box blanks defined by said die connected.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for making said longitudinal score lines comprises score wheels, means mounting said wheels on a support extending across an upper portion of the apparatus, said score wheel mounting means being laterally adjustable along said support to locate said score wheels at any desired point inwardly relative to the edges of the strip, rotatable anvil rolls associated with each score wheel, means for mounting Said anvil rolls below said score wheels, and means for adjusting said anvil roll mounting means relative to said score wheels to locate the anvil rolls a desired distance from the periphery of said score wheels to thereby determine the depth of the longitudinal score lines.
 10. An apparatus for making blanks from an elongate strip of web material comprising means for feeding the strip; die means including cutting means for completely cutting the strip along a transverse line that stops short of and is equidistant from the longitudinal edges of the strip, said die means also including cutting means for simultaneously forming removable side corner portions; said corner portion cutting means including cutting means for making longitudinally spaced, lateral cuts extending in from both edges of the strip for a distance that at least equals the distance by which said simultaneous transverse cut stops short of the edges of the strip, said corner portion die means further including cutting means for simultaneously making longitudinal cuts substantially parallel to each strip edge, each longitudinal cut extending at least between the inner ends of the associated lateral cuts and intersecting said transverse cut to form said removable side corner portions. 